Traveling & being on the road
As a pedestrian: The motor bikes here often travel fast and if you don’t understand how to fit into their world you can get yourself into trouble. If there is a median strip in the center of the road it is OK to cross and wait in the middle. If there is no median strip MAKE SURE BOTH DIRECTIONS are well clear before attempting to cross. Getting stuck in the middle when the traffic unexpectedly gets busy is scary! When you are mixing with cars and motorbikes it is OK to wave at drivers with your hand doing an up and down “slow down” gesture. The movement makes you more visible and you are telling the drivers that you are moving into the same space as them. The simple rule is…. be patient, wait and don’t rush.
As a driver or rider: We can organise a driver and car for you but if you plan to drive yourself, we still recommend for the first few days that you hire a driver so you can observe how the traffic here flows and motorists interact with each other. A driver is not expensive and certainly will make your traveling time much more relaxed! If you want to drive here you will need an international driver/rider license from your home country. Do not ride a motor scooter with just an international car license and if you don’t have a lot of experience with motor bikes back home, this is not the place to learn those skills. The local people regularly use a short beep on the horn to alert other nearby road users and pedestrians. If you see someone who may be coming close to you just give them a quick tap on the horn.
Food & Drink
Many people coming to Indonesia have heard about “Bali Belly”. With a few sensible precautions this is generally not a problem in North Sulawesi. Here’s some tips:
1- Eat only in places which cook food off the menu when you order it. If the food is out on display, it may have been sitting out at room temperature for quite a while.
2- Get a Cholera vaccination before you come. Many health professionals say that this also provides tolerance to the various other gut bacteria which can cause problems. Our experience is that this is correct.
3- Only drink bottled water and clean your teeth with it.
4- Bring some Imodium and charcoal tablets.
5- Drink plenty of water. It is easy to get dehydrated here. Watch the color of your pee and if it is getting too yellow you need to drink more.
By following these simple rules, you are unlikely to have serious problems.
Other tips & Information
1- Before you come, learn some basic Indonesian language starting with greetings, counting and money. In North Sulawesi a smile and a cheerful “selamat pagi/siang/sore/malam” will get you a long way with the locals who are naturally friendly and helpful. Install a translation app such as Google Translate. An AI app such as ChatGPT is very useful for asking quick questions about aspects of the language and culture. Both these apps have free versions.
2- The local dialect here is “Bahasa Manado” which is a bit different to the national language “Bahasa Indonesia”. The locals understand national Indonesian because all the media use it and it is taught at schools. Younger people will also have learned some English at school. Some of the older people understand Dutch but that generation is now in their eighties.
3- Bring a small backpack for day trips. For our day trips, bring along swimming gear, a small towel, a change of clothes, a fold away umbrella, tissues, hand wipes, water, a phone charger or power bank and any medication you may need like paracetamol.
4- Get travel & health insurance from a known and reputable insurer in your home country. Once the social media algorithms get a hold of your travel plans, you will get served up ads to purchase insurance. Many of these are just scams and they simply will never pay out if you make a claim.
5- Cargo pants with extra velcro or zip pockets are very useful here. You may want to consider attaching a lanyard to your phone so it can’t fall out of your pocket and be lost. You will be often getting in and out of cars, restaurant seats etc so it is very easy for your phone to fall out of your pocket.
6- If you need help organising a local data physical SIM card when you arrive here, let us know. Here is the Telkomsel link to get an e-sim.